The 3rd edition of the Innovation Challenges for Students, organised by the European University Alliance EUTOPIA (of which NOVA is a member), took place from 13 to 15 May 2025 at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
The event, which took place under the theme ‘Unmasking the Truth: Tackling Fake News Together’, brought together 80 students from ten European universities, including NOVA University Lisbon, which was represented by students from the NOVA School of Law (NSL), NOVA FCSH, NOVA Medical School (NMS), NOVA IMS, NOVA ENSP and Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE).
The challenge focused on four key areas related to disinformation:
- ‘Fake News & Fact-Checking’, which aimed to integrate fact-checking into citizens’ daily lives and was proposed by Lucía Abadías López from Verificat — the only fact-checking platform in Catalonia to be recognised internationally;
- ‘Fake News & Mental Health’, which addressed misinformation on mental health among young people and was proposed by Meritxell Vilanova Cots from Fundació Joia — a non-profit organisation with over 40 years’ experience in Barcelona;
- ‘Fake News and Deepfakes’, which aimed to promote critical awareness of the creation and dissemination of AI-generated manipulated content, was proposed by Alex Valverde Valencia from the RAIN Film Festival, the first European festival dedicated to film and AI.
- ‘Fake News and Democratic Fragility’, focused on protecting democratic values through the use of open data and was proposed by Mar Escarrabill from Canòdrom – Ateneu d’Innovació Digital i Democràtica.
The students were organised into interdisciplinary teams and challenged to develop innovative solutions for each topic. The programme included workshops, debates and collaborative work sessions to foster an environment of active learning and critical reflection on the impact of disinformation on contemporary society. The event concluded with public presentations of the final projects to a live audience and an international jury comprising academics, journalists, fact-checking professionals and innovation experts.
